Wart-biter | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Adult female of the green morph | |
![]() | |
Male | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Orthoptera |
Suborder: | Ensifera |
Family: | Tettigoniidae |
Subfamily: | Tettigoniinae |
Tribe: | Decticini |
Genus: | Decticus |
Species: | D. verrucivorus |
Binomial name | |
Decticus verrucivorus |
The wart-biter (Decticus verrucivorus) [1] is a bush-cricket in the family Tettigoniidae. Its common and scientific names derive from the eighteenth-century Swedish practice of allowing the crickets to nibble at warts to remove them. [2]
Adult wart-biters are 31–37 millimeters (1.2–1.5 in), with females being significantly larger than males. They are typically dark green in colour, and shiny, [3] usually with dark brown blotches on the pronotum and wings (a dark brown morphotype also occurs). The female has a long and slightly upcurved ovipositor. [4] Their colouration acts as effective camouflage in grassy surroundings. [3]
The wart-biter has a song consisting of a rapidly repeated series of short bursts of clicks, sometimes lasting for several minutes.
Wart-biters normally move around by walking; they rarely fly, except when frightened. Most can only fly 3 to 4 meters (10 to 13 ft) at a time.
The Orthoptera Species File [5] lists:
The species is found in calcareous grassland and heathland habitats. [4]
Wart-biters need a mosaic of vegetation, including bare ground/short turf, grass tussocks, and a sward rich in flowering forbs. They prefer areas that are not heavily grazed. The species is thermophilous, and tends to occur on sites with a southerly aspect. [6]
Wart-biters are omnivores. [3] Plants eaten include knapweed, nettles, bedstraws; the species also eats insects, including other grasshoppers.
This species occurs throughout continental Europe, except the extreme south, ranging from southern Scandinavia to Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece. It is also found in temperate Asia, as far east as China. Geographic features such as mountains have fragmented the species, leading to a wide range of forms and numerous subspecies. [8]
In Britain, the wart-biter is confined to five sites, two in East Sussex, and one each in Wiltshire, Essex, Dorset and Kent. [4]
The population of wart-biters has declined in many areas of northern Europe. In Britain, it is threatened with extirpation. [9] The species is the subject of a United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan. [10]